1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording head and an inkjet recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A related inkjet recording apparatus is configured so that a recording head can move and scan a sheet material (recording medium) fed from a sheet-feeding unit. The recording head discharges ink in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of the sheet material at an image forming section. Accordingly, an image is formed by discharging ink onto the sheet material. The sheet material having the image formed thereon is, then, ejected to an ejecting section of the recording apparatus. In the inkjet recording apparatus, though depending upon a recording image, the recording head is caused to reciprocate a plurality of times when forming an image onto, for example, one A4 size sheet material. Therefore, in general, the recording speed thereof is on the order of two to a few number of sheet materials per minute. However, in recent years, a higher recording speed is demanded. To meet this demand, a full-line inkjet recording head whose recording speed is increased to approximately a few tens of sheet materials per minute as a result of arranging nozzles (for discharging ink) over the entire width of a recording medium in a direction intersecting a conveying direction of a sheet material is proposed. A recording apparatus including one or more such full-line inkjet recording heads is also proposed.
For example, a recording head that can discharge ink over an entire width of a recording medium as a result of arranging a plurality of recording element substrates (having a certain number of nozzles) on a supporting plate is proposed as a long full-line inkjet recording head having a length in the range of from, for example, 4 to 13 inches. Still another recording head in which one recording element substrate is made long over an entire width of a recording medium is proposed.
The above-described full-line inkjet recording heads and a recording apparatus including any of these inkjet recording heads are discussed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-015257.
However, in general, such full-line recording heads are larger than a reciprocating-scanning recording head used in a related inkjet recording apparatus. In addition, in forming a recording apparatus, for example, one inkjet recording head may be used per one ink color, as a result of which the recording apparatus includes a plurality of inkjet recording heads. Therefore, the recording apparatus that uses full-line recording heads is large. From the viewpoints of, for example, costs and space efficiency in an operating environment of a user, the recording apparatus is required to be small.